Fresno thief caught on camera -- stealing the camera

It's not so unusual to see security camera videos of crimes in progress, but this is different. The security camera itself is going to be stolen, and we get a good look at the thief as he climbs a ladder, and hammers it out. It happened at the Surf Thru Carwash at First and Ashlan.

Owner Todd Gall was surprised by what the camera captured. He said, "I was shocked here we have cameras missing when we show up at work one day obviously everything's being recorded so we went back and played it back and saw his face, obviously it caught everything in action."

Fresno Police Sgt. Eric Hodge says police couldn't ask for much better evidence and a possible lead to a string of similar crimes.

"That subject provided great video of himself as he stole those cameras. But we also have an increase in thefts of video cameras from throughout the north end of the city," Fresno Police Sgt. Eric Hodge said. "Several businesses have been hit where they climb up behind the camera, dislodge them and take them out."

Security cameras have been ripped down from at least a dozen businesses. Police aren't' sure if the thefts are related.

"We feel that subject is probably reselling those cameras either to unsuspecting clients or selling them down south."

With fear of crime the security camera business is booming. Security contractor Paul Foster of ProTec installed the cameras stolen at the car wash. He's never seen cameras stolen before, and thinks this crook wasn't very smart.

Foster said, "I thought it was pretty funny the way he did it he went right up there with a hammer looked right into the camera and started swinging."

Gall is upset his camera was taken, but is confident, with the evidence the thief will be caught. He said, "Very ironic that the thing we put in place to prevent theft is the thing that got stolen but luckily it worked."

While police haven't caught the guy yet, they think he's made things a lot easier for them to track him down.